Planning and enforcement appeals

Project description: Retrospective permission and enforcement appeals for coach depot

Project Status: Approved (Enforcement Notice withdrawn)

Coach Depot, bolton

I was instructed on this contentious retrospective planning application in relation to the use of a former builders yard/timber merchants depot relating to one of Bolton’s allocated industrial estates, sandwiched between the M61and M60 motorways.

Having moved onto the site in 2015, unaware that new planning permissions were needed to operate the site as a coach depot, the operator faced persistent complaints from local residents about alleged noise. Despite proving that that the levels of noise did not exceed government recommendations, leading to a recommendation for approval from the local planning officer, local councillors deferred and then later refused planning permission. The council’s enforcement team and legal officers then served both a noise abatement notice and an enforcement notice requiring the company to stop using the site.

With more than 45 jobs and the future of the business at risk, I was appointed to advise the operator and secure planning permission for the use. Appearing as an expert witness and instructing the barrister on the case, I worked with acoustics and highways experts and air quality scientists to prepare appeals against the refusal of permission. I successfully defended against the issuing of the enforcement notice and instructed the barrister to argue against the noise abatement notice which was appealed through the magistrates court. In light of the compelling evidence together with the production of a bespoke noise management plan, the Council eventually granted planning permission and folded its case by withdrawing all of the notices against the company. All of the company’s jobs were saved as a result. You can read more about this case in the press, here.

I am now retained to advise the company on an ongoing basis to discharge the planning conditions on the approval.